


Kittyfloss

by beefcake_ghost



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Coming Out, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Humanstuck, Minor/background Terezi Pyrope/Karkat Vantas, Misunderstandings, Sexuality Crisis, bisexual nepeta, terezi is a little bit of a jerk but its okay i forgive her
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:27:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26850646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beefcake_ghost/pseuds/beefcake_ghost
Summary: Terezi doesn't understand. Nepeta helps her.
Relationships: Nepeta Leijon/Terezi Pyrope, Terezi Pyrope/Karkat Vantas
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	Kittyfloss

Your name is Terezi Pyrope and you are currently elbow-deep in a bowl full of popcorn. You and your good friend, Nepeta Leijon, had made it a habit to spend at least one night a week in each other’s dorms to watch a movie. This week, it was your turn to pick the movie. When you showed up on Nepeta’s door with all three How To Train Your Dragon movies, Nepeta jokingly slammed the door in your face. Now, her nose was practically pressed against the TV screen as she watched the colorful dragons zip and soar across the screen. A smug smile creeped across your face. Nobody could resist the undeniable coolness of dragons.

Nepeta wasn’t your best friend. She wasn’t even your oldest friend. You didn’t even spend time with her the most out of all your friends. But, she was a friend you could always rely on to help you unwind. She never failed to create an atmosphere of positivity and optimism, and after a really long day, sometimes that was all you needed. She was always willing to listen to you ramble about what you were studying, even if you knew she wasn’t really paying attention. She was the sort of friend to randomly show up at your door with a homemade cupcake or friendship bracelet “just because I was thinking of you!”. Everybody needs somebody like Nepeta Leijon in their life.

Nepeta startled you out of your thoughts with a loud “Awwww!”. On screen, Hiccup and Astrid were locking lips in the most PG way possible. You rolled your eyes at the scene in mock disgust. The romance aspect of the movie was the only part you disliked about it. “Do they really have to force a romance in every single movie these days?”

Nepeta huffed and stuck her tongue out at you in a joking display of frustration. “Shut up! I think it’s cute. I want to find a man like Hiccup one day! I’ll be his Astrid and we will ride in the sunset together,” she said, resting her chin on her hands, practically swooning over this hypothetical man. Nepeta was always going on and on about how one day, the perfect man or woman would swoop in and turn her world upside down. She reminded you of a boy-crazy middle schooler, but you suppose there are worse things for somebody to be.

“What about you, Rezi? Got your eye on any Hiccups?” Nepeta inquired, pausing the movie. Talks about crushes were far more important to her than any movie in the world. She waggled her eyebrows at you, and you gave her a light punch on her shoulder.

“C’mon Nep, you know I’m too busy with school to worry about silly boys. Besides, nobody on the planet would be able to stand me rambling about law and the justice system,” you say, tossing a piece of popcorn in your mouth. You hadn’t really had a crush since high school, and you were okay with that. Boys were a waste of time anyways. Nepeta nodded at your words, looking away and tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. You know your friend well enough to tell when she is hiding something, and that motion was a dead giveaway.

“Nepeta Leijon! Do you have a crush on anybody?” You accuse, jabbing a finger in her direction. Nepeta sat straight up, a blush rising to her cheeks. She grabs a pillow from the couch and buries her face into it, squealing like a schoolgirl. You laughed and wrestled the pillow away from her. Nothing escapes the watchful eye of Terezi Pyrope! “Well? Who is it? What dashing prince or princess charming has stolen your heart?”

Nepeta bashfully looked down at her hands, wringing them together nervously. She mumbled something under her breath that you couldn’t quite hear, so you lean in closer. When she didn;trepeat herself, you tightened your hands on the bag of popcorn. “If you don’t tell me, this popcorn is going straight in my mouth, and you can’t have any!”

Nepeta’s eyes widened at the threat and let out a small gasp. “You wouldn’t!”

“Oh I most certainly would,” you say, delicately placing one kernel on your tongue before swallowing it in a dramatic fashion. “I could do this all night,” you threaten, placing another piece of popcorn in your mouth.

“Alright, alright! I give in, you sadistic monster,” Nepeta giggled, snatching the bag of popcorn from you. She looked away, her ears turning red.

“ᵏᵃʳᵏᵃᵗᵛᵃⁿᵗᵃˢ”

“Come again?”

“KARKAT VANTAS! I, Nepeta Leijon, have a big, huge, monster of a crush on Karkat Grumpybutt Vantas.”

Your heart dropped at her confession. Confusion swirls in your tummy as the news sinks in. Why were you so upset at her? You should be happy for her, but instead, jealousy had sunken its claws into you.

In a flash, you grabbed your phone and keys and flew out of her dorm. Before Nepeta could even vocalize her confusion, you slammed the door behind you and sprinted back to your own dorm room. 

Jealousy. Why were you so jealous? It was the only clear emotion you could discern from the slurry of feelings bombarding you. You jump into bed, wrapping all of the blankets around yourself in a protective cocoon.

It must be Karkat. Clearly, you also had a crush on Karkat as well! And now that Nepeta had a crush on Karkat, you were jealous of her. Of course! That was the only possible explanation for why you were so jealous. Now, you had to hurry up and make Karkat your boyfriend before Nepeta did. Surely that would make all of these awful feelings brewing inside you disappear…

Your name is Terezi Pyrope and you have been dating Karkat Vantas for 2 months, 3 weeks, and 5 days. It hadn’t been hard to convince him to go out with you. Once you poked enough holes in his all-too-grumpy facade, he opened up to you enough where you could convince him to go on a date with you. You and Karkat acted more like friends than boyfriend and girlfriend, but that’s how you preferred it… right?

You’ve spoken to Nepeta exactly once since you ditched her all those weeks ago. She had appeared in your hallway, knocking on the door to your dorm. She just wanted to return the movies you left at her dorm, but instead she got an eyeful of you and karkat doing some less-than-friendly things. You had been less than polite when answering the door, only muttering a curt “thanks” before closing the door in her face. You felt bad. Of course you felt bad. You cannot think of a single person evil enough to wish harm on Nepeta, but you had hurt her nonetheless. You had convinced yourself that it was because you didn’t want her to be hurt by what you and Karkat behind closed doors. If you just cut her off entirely, she wouldn’t have your relationship shoved in her face all the time.

“It was for the best,” you told yourself. And for a while there, that seemed to be the case. You and Karkat had a pretty good thing going. You would fool around and do dumb shit like all college kids your age. You didn’t plan to put a ring on him, but he was fun to have for a good couple years at least.

Nepeta also seemed to recover rather quickly. For all your coldness and aloofness, you still cared about her well-being. After a few weeks, you saw her and equius getting ice cream at the parlor just off of campus. She was all giggles and smiles as she scarfed down a huge bowl of mint chocolate chip. She was back to her old self. Equius stared daggers in your direction. But Nepeta? She didn’t even notice as you walked past.

It had been 2 months 3 weeks and 5 days since you had felt even a hint of that jealous monster in your gut. You thought you solved it the second Karkat agreed to dinner and a movie.

You thought wrong.

You sat at the patio of the campus cafeteria, enjoying a mediocre lunch when that ugly jealous beast reared its head once more. All the way on the other side of the courtyard, Nepeta walked along, hand in hand with another girl. You didn’t recognize this girl, nor did you care to get to know her at all. Your grip on the plastic fork tightened until the cheap little utensil shattered at the handle.

You weren’t very good at seeing things far away, and you hadn’t brought your glasses down just for lunch, but even you could make out the kiss that the other girl planted on Nepeta’s cheek. Even without excellent vision, you couldn’t help but hear Nepeta’s trademark excited squeal of joy. You gritted your teeth and looked away, ignoring the mix of jealousy and… is that butterflies? Ugh this was just all too confusing! You did the only thing you know how to do whenever you don’t understand.

You ran away.

Back in the safety of your dorm, you feel yourself instinctively returning to the position you went to the night Nepeta told you about her crush on Karkat. With the blanket around your whole body, you can calm down and really think.

You never got jealous whenever Equius gave Nepeta affection when you were still friends with her. And you knew about Nepeta’s bisexuality before, so her getting a girlfriend shouldn’t be as much of a surprise as it apparently was. And besides you were dating Karkat, what did you have to be jealous of?

You tossed and turned in your bed for several long minutes, groaning and fretting. You couldn’t come up with a single rational explanation for why you felt so shitty right now. Well, there was one option, but the idea of it being true terrified you more than anything else; however, it was the only option you hadn’t spent more than three seconds pondering.

With a heavy sigh, you grabbed your laptop, opened google, and typed “am i gay quiz” into the search bar.

You spent hours combing through quizzes and articles and even medical journals. “’Do you get excited when women touch your hand?’ Of course! Women’s hands are so soft and boy’s hands are so rough and coarse,” you say aloud as you fill out yet another quiz. Some of the questions were a little bit odd. Why would they ask you owned a lot of flannels? They are comfy and easy to wear, and you frankly don’t see what that has to do with being gay.

You filled out the final question and pressed the “see results” button. Aaaand once again the quiz declares you a flaming homosexual. You buried your face in your hands, groaning. This was the eighth quiz you’ve taken in a row, and none of them had even hinted at you being heterosexual. You didn’t know what to do and you were even more confused than you were before, but this time, you had nowhere else to run.

So, in a fit of desperation, you grabbed your coat and exited your dorm room. Some fresh air would do you good. You hadn’t realized how late it had gotten until you saw the moon high in the sky. All the better for a lonesome walk of self-discovery…

You began your vigilant walk around campus, taking the same route you walk every time you go for a midnight jog. You jammed your hands into your coat pockets, trying to ignore the chill nipping at your ears. The campus was mostly barren except for a few pockets of students who had stayed out to talk on the steps. You ignore them and carry on, not wanting anybody to see you in this state.

You had almost completed a full loop of the campus when you noticed somebody sitting on the bleachers of the football field. Two unmistakeable cat ears from that dumb blue beanie peaked out from behind the railings. There was only one person on campus with such atrocious and yet endearing fashion sense.

You hadn’t noticed that you’d been approaching her until you were less than a foot away from the bleachers. Her nose twitched in the cold, and she sneezed a small, adorable sneeze. You reached a hand out to touch her shoulder but thought better of it.

“Nepeta,” you croaked, the hoarseness of your breath surprising you. It sounded like you were holding back a sob, because to be quite honest, that was exactly what you were doing. The guilt, confusion, and nervousness swelled inside you and was only barely held at bay.

Nepeta jolted upright and spun around, fists poised and ready. Once she realized it was just your sorry ass, she lowered her hands and her face twisted into an expression of bitter sadness.

“Oh… it’s you. Did you need anything?” Her voice is steely and cold, but you can detect a small tremor in her words. Another wave of guilt crashed over you. How could you have been so cruel to her? Nepeta, the nicest human being on the planet, was treating you like a mangy dog, and to be completely honest, you deserved it. You opened your mouth, trying to find the words to apologize. The sounds never came, and you just stammered like a child caught in a lie. Before you could stop yourself, you blurted the only thing that came to mind.

“Nepeta, how do you know if you’re gay?”

The girl seemed a bit surprised by your question. It clearly wasn’t what she was expecting out of after almost 3 months of no contact. A hot tear ran down your cheek, and before you could stop it, a whole cascade of hot tears had escaped your tear ducts. God, you were such a mess. Blubbering at the feet of your ex-friend in the middle of the night.

Nepeta regarded you with an unreadable expression before scooting over and patting the seat next to her. You wordlessly climb onto the bleachers, sitting your sorry ass down with a sniffle. Nepeta placed her hand on top of yours, and you almost flinched away at the warmth. Instead, you force yourself to stay still, steeling yourself for the inevitable tirade Nepeta is about to spew in your general direction.

But it never came. Instead, Nepeta moved her hand to your cheek, forcing you to look her in the eyes. Instead of the stern, displeased expression you were expecting, you were met with big green eyes full of worry and concern. She rubbed your cheek, brushing away a stray tear. After a long moment of your hiccuping and sniffling, she finally spoke up.

“Is that what this is all about?” She inquired, pulling her hand back into her lap. You want to beg her to put the hand back, but you restrain yourself. Now was not the time. Instead, a bubble of guilt escaped your well-fortified barricade, and you screw your eyes shut.

“I’m so sorry about what I did with Karkat and everything and I didn’t even really like him I just didn’t want you to like him because that meant you didn’t like me and I just didn’t know how to deal with that and I’m sorry about cutting you off and not telling you how I felt and I’m sorry for just being a dick in general and- and- and-“

You nearly passed out as you spilled your guts out, plain and clear for Nepeta to inspect. Another hiccuping sob escaped your lips as you wiped your eyes with the sleeve of your hoodie. She just stared back at you, expression unreadable, processing the information you just dumped on her. You wouldn’t blame her if she up and left right then and there, it’s honestly what you deserve. But no, once again Nepeta surprises you by being steadfastly kind.

“‘Rezi, I only really liked Karkat because he gave me a pencil when I forgot mine. Once I learned that he pours his milk first when making cereal, that crush was over. I’m not upset about that, I was just really sad that you stopped talking to me…”She trailed off, fiddling with the buttons of her coat. She readjusted in her seat so she could bring her face closer to yours. “I missed you so bad, I would cry about it to Equius every night for about a week. He just doesn’t get movies like you do,” She smiled as she places a hand on your shoulder. “It’s okay if you’re gay, Terezi. It’s not the end of the world if you like girls.” 

At that, your heart nearly twisted itself into a knot. She was so forgiving and kind even after everything you had done. Your tears almost start up again in full force, the tightness in your chest swelling at her words. Instead, you pressed your forehead to her and exhale deeply.

“Thank you, Nep. God, I’m such an asshole. What did I do to deserve a friend like-“

Your words are cut off as she pressed the tip of her finger to your lips.

“Shut up, you big goof. Don’t ruin the moment,” she said with a small, catlike giggle. She closed her eyes and placed her hands atop yours, lacing your fingers together. You closed your eyes too, and before you knew it, a soft pair of lips were pressed against yours. You stiffened a bit at the foreign feeling, but quickly relaxed and pressed your lips back.

Your eyes flutter open and your cheeks flush with a slight blush. She pulled back after a moment, giving you a big smile. Then, you remember what you saw in the courtyard earlier that day, and an icy bolt clenches at your heart. 

“But wait, what about the girl you were with this morning?” You say, a small quiver in your voice. Nepeta giggled and curled up so her back was against your chest and your chin was resting atop her head.

“That was my friend from high school, silly. She straight, girls give each other kisses on the cheek all the time,” she explained, snuggling into your chest further. Your shoulders released a bit of tension and you began rubbing her arm. You’d have to deal with Karkat in the morning, but for now, you’d be content if you and Nepeta never left this position.

**Author's Note:**

> this is the first time i have written fanficition since 2016. ive still got it, babey B)


End file.
